This gallery contains 21 photos.
My wife and I recently attended the annual convention of the UNION PACIFIC HISTORICAL SOCIETY held in North Platte, Nebraska. On our return trip, we rode a train operated by the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad located in Chama, New … Continue reading
THE TITLE OF THIS POST MAY LEAD YOU TO THE CONCLUSION THE OLD MACHINIST DOES NOT FEEL A WRECKED TRAIN IS A SERIOUS THING. BUT, ALAS, HE HAS HUNG OUT WITH MANY TRAINMEN OVER THESE PAST FIFTY YEARS AND HAS BEEN SHOWN THE SERIOUS SIDE OF RAILROADING AS WELL AS THE HUMOROUS SIDE. SO, WE HAVE A HUMOROUS TITLE FOR A SERIOUS SUBJECT. NOW, TO PUT YOU INTO THE CORRECT FRAME OF MIND BEFORE YOU VIEW THESE PHOTOGRAPHS, TRY TO IMAGINE YOU ARE ONE OF THE TRAINMEN RIDING THE TRAIN. SCARY IS IT NOT?
IN 1967 WE WERE ON A VACATION TRIP TO RIDGEFARM, ILLINOIS AND STAYING THE NIGHT IN CHEYENNE AT A MOTEL ACROSS THE STREET FROM TOWER A (A FOAMERS DREAM SPOT). WE DECIDED TO GO ON AN EVENING DRIVE WEST ON HIGHWAY 30. AS WE PASSED BORIE JUNCTION WE WERE OVERTAKEN BY VEHICLES WITH SIRENS ON AND MOVING FAST. THEY LOOKED LIKE FIRE TRUCKS WHICH PUZZLED US AS THERE IS NOT MUCH TO BURN ALONG THAT PART OF HIGHWAY 30. SOON ENOUGH, THE ANSWER APPEARED TO OUR LEFT, TOWARD THE TRACKS. IT APPEARED TO US AS A LARGE BONFIRE AT FIRST, BUT THEN CAME THE REALIZATION IT WAS A FLATCAR LOADED WITH LUMBER. I STOPPED THE CAR AND, WITH CAMERA IN HAND, WALKED TOWARD THE BONFIRE. THESE PHOTOGRAPHS ARE THE RESULT OF THAT WALK THRU THE GRASS COVERED CINDERS – THE COAL KIND.
THIS PHOTOGRAPH OF THE RESTORED 942 WAS TAKEN THE DAY BEFORE THE U.P.R.R. EMPLOYEE’S ANNUAL PICNIC.
MY OLD SLIDES DATE FROM 1962.
MY SLIDES, AHEM, MY COLLECTION OF SLIDES HAS BEEN COLLECTING DUST AND SPIDERS FOR SEVERAL DECADES BECAUSE THE EFFORT NEEDED TO GET THEM ORGANIZED INTO RATIONAL SETS AND THEN SHOWING THEM SEEMED OVERWHELMING DURING THAT TIME. BUT THIS RETIRED “MEMBER OF THE TECHNICAL STAFF” FINALLY RECOGNIZED THE OBVIOUS; COMPUTERS ARE CAPABLE OF NEGATING THE “OVERWHELMING” PART OF THE TASK AND I OUGHT TO GET OFF THE DIME AND START. WELL, I STARTED AND THESE IMAGES ARE THE FIRST OF MANY TO COME.
THESE ARE IMAGES OF THE EMD E-UNITS USED BY THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD AS THE MOTIVE POWER FOR MOST OF THEIR NAMED PASSENGER TRAINS. THEY WERE USED THUS UNTIL THE END OF PASSENGER SERVICE BY THE UPRR. AT THAT TIME, THE UPRR STARTED DISPOSING OF THEIR E-UNITS AND SOME ENDED THEIR SERVICE DOING THE HARD LABOR OF REGIONAL COMMUTER TRAINS. SORT OF LIKE A RACE HORSE PULLING THE TOWN JITNEY. SO IT WAS FOR ONE OF THE E8 MODEL E-UNITS OF THE UPRR, THE 942, AS SHE IS KNOWN EVEN TODAY. YES, I SAID TODAY BECAUSE SHE WAS FOUND, RUSTED BUT UNBOWED, BY SOME OF MY COHORTS AT THE ORANGE EMPIRE RAILROAD MUSEUM AND THESE “WUNDERKIND OF RUST AND ELECTRICAL SHORTS” FIXED THE RUST AND SHORTS AND GAVE THE 942 LIFE AGAIN. HER COMING OUT PARTY WAS THE ANNUAL UPRR EMPLOYEES PICNIC AND WHAT A DAY THAT WAS FOR THE “WUNDERKIND” OF OERM. THE OLD MACHINIST SPENT THE DAY LISTENING TO THE UNMISTAKABLE CHANT OF THOSE TWIN DIESEL ENGINES AS THE 942 PULLED OUR, ALL ARMOUR YELLOW, FIVE CAR VERSION OF THE “CITY OF LOS ANGELES”, A SOUND I HAD NOT HEARD FOR MANY YEARS. SO, I DEDICATE THIS, MY FIRST POST TO THIS NEW BLOG, TO THE “WUNDERKIND” OF OERM.
PIXORAILS 